Thursday 28 February 2013

Zulkarnain - catatan usrah march 2013


Emosi dan sosial

Ayat 83-98

Berurusan dengan manusia
Iman islam ihsan

Type of Ihsan
Allah - taqwa
Manusia - akhlak
Kerja - itqan (bsungguh-sungguh)

What is ihsan?

Taqwa seperti berjalan di atas duri (berhati-hati)

Recap:
Kisah pertama dan kedua
Kebenaran kecik, kebatilan besar

Kisah 3
Cara handle kebatilan kebenaran

Kisah 4
Kebenaran besar, kebatilan kecil

Susunan
Zulkarnain - yang benar pasti menang

Yakjuj makjuj - pertembungan dengan kebatilan

Zulkarnain was given tools to get everything i.e. Ilmu,harta, human resource besides power

Kuasa milik Allah
Bagi yang dizalimi, mampu rasa berani untuk menegakkan sesuatu yang hak
Allah berhak beri dan tarik kuasa yang diberikan kepada sesiapa sahaja
Should carry the responsibility, not take the job easy as it would be questioned in Hereafter

Power is needed to differentiate between syiah and sunni. Syiah started during khulafa ar rasyidin term. One of the group questioned on why abu bakar succeed the position as the chief minister instead of ali who is the prophet's cousin. Syiah thought that power was supposed to be inherited as it is considered a privelege. This contradicts what the prophet has believed. Power should not be a privelege, and it should not be thought as an easy subject.

The first journey of Zulkarnain to the west and he met a colony which were not yet believing in Allah. Allah asked Zulkarnain what action would he put on them, either treating them nicely or punishing.

Zulkarnain wanted to treat them based on thier actions. If they are doing good deeds, they will be given merit. Vice versa.

Munkar dan nukra
From Allah view and human view
Nukra 74 from human view, its bad. But it's not bad in Allah view
Nukra 87 from Allah view, its a fine thing.

Trip to the east
Meet poor colony, without protection

None should investigate too deeply about this story as the information about this is limited. ALLAH limits it and only Allah knows everything.

Journey no 3
Kaum belakang gunung,x paham bahasa masing2
Yakjuj makjuk golongan manusia yang membuat kerosakan di bumi
Contoh
Keruntuhan kerajaan abasiyyan
Buang buku sampai river jadi hitam dek ink
Lenyapkan tamadun

Kaum belakang gunung
Duduk tempat bahaya sebab yakjuj makjuj
Pemalas sebab sanggup bagi upah untuk buat perlindungan untuk mereka

Zulkarnain ajak mereka untuk merajinkan diri melindungi diri mereka sendiri

Reactivity series
Copper and iron

Tembok besi yang susah dilubangi
Yakjuj makjuj sudahpun keluar

Dinding itu rahmat dari Allah
Not my own power

Saturday 16 February 2013

Nasi biryani

Tell me how your tummy sings. Does the song sound like Taylor Swift? Justin Bieber? or maybe Siti Nurhaliza? Haha. My tummy sang an emo song as I was a bit emotionally unstable. After performed Maghrib prayer, I went down to the kitchen and started slicing spring onions. To cook what? Yeay, chicken biryani. Actually, I was browsing something to order from justeat.co.uk. But, I changed my mind. I wanted to cook to release tension. Indeed, it helped!

A big onion spring was cut into half and sliced into small pieces. Same bits went to garlic, ginger and chilies. All were fried together with star anise, cardamom and clover until fragrant. Remember I made ayam masak merah for nasi minyak last two days? There were some sambal left, so I actually fried the biryani foundation in the same wok. #reduce the kitchen waste. I added some chicken pieces, 1/3 packet of biryani powder, three spoonful of chili powder, and a spoonful of meat curry powder. Then, pour some milk and simmer the mixture until fragrant. The cooked mixture was added into the rice cooker. Make sure to pour extra water for well steamed rice. The water level is not going to be the same with steaming a normal white rice because for this biryani, some water will be used for cooking the chicken.

For salad, two tomatoes and half length of cucumber were cut into small cubes and lemon and sugar juice were added later. To add the crunchiness, mix together fried nan bread into the salad. Serve the salad freshly next to the cooked biryani rice.

My tummy is now full #Alhamdulillah... and I suppose to get ready on my assignment. Yosh! Bismillah...



Friday 15 February 2013

Nasi minyak abang kahwin sedunia

Nasi minyak. The Malay delicacy which is normally served during wedding season. If you could not find nasi minyak in a wedding ceremony, I bet that wedding must not be a typical one. Though there are no wedding happening in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the moment, I cook nasi minyak just for fun. I was invited to attend my friends' brothers wedding back in Malaysia. But, obviously I could not attend those due to being at a far far away land of King Athur's United Kingdom, so I decided to cook that special meal in a way to celebrate the happiness. Furthermore, my brother will be getting married soon, so why not have a try, right?

My mom once told me that preparing nasi minyak is similar to preparing nasi tomato. I just need to substitute tomato with ghee instead. So that was how I did last time. This time, I reduced the use of clover, cardamom, star anise and cinnamon from the previous nasi tomato dosage. My mom warned me to do so if I wanted to reduce the strong smell of these herbs on rice. I found that the ghee is so saturated that I decided to reduce the amount used in my rice. When I inserted my finger to measure the level of liquid need before steaming the rice, the liquidified ghee even sticked on my finger and I could only wash it with hand-wash liquid and extra rinsing. For this time, I added a spoon of biryani powder to just add some flavour in it. Though the original nasi minyak is a bit yellowish, I decided not to put the colouring essence to leave it as natural as it is. Adding colouring is not chemically good either.

So, my rice was done. I needed to cook the side dishes. Normally, nasi minyak is served with curry, vegetable, ayam masak merah and etc depending on people favourites. As for me, I chose to cook ayam masak merah and prepare mixed vegetable slices called acar mentah. the foundation of ayam masak merah is basically, chilies cooked with onions, garlics and tomatoes puree. The foundation needs to be fried until the oil resurfaces. Then, you just need to add the fried chicken into it. Make sure the chilies are fried well so that the taste is not bitter.

Preparing acar was a bit challenging for me as I am not a person who like to cut things to very small slices. To be exact, I am quite lazy to take longer time to prepare a meal. So, for this one, I tried harder to slice carrot, cucmber, chilies, and big shallot nicely till I nearly cut my thumb if extra force was keen on the knife. After finished slicing, for flavouring, I added lemon juice and sugar liquid. And, yeay my acar was done. I called it acar happily ever after. The colourful mix of vegetables just made my day and added the colour of the dishes.

Not to forget, I fried some papadom as well to finish up the serving plate variety. What is papadom? Google it. It basically is a cracker made from flour and some spices maybe? I'm not sure how they make it, but the taste is good. Some of papadom recipe may be a bit salty. If you are not a person who cares enough about your diet, it is worth a try.

My nasi minyak and its side dishes are now done. For recipe, please google it somewhere as I don't really know exactly what amount I'm putting into the cookware. What I can say is IT IS DELICIOUS. #perasan.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Al-kahfi (Gua)

Pernah dengar lirik lagu Jumu'ah dalam cover Friday yang Rafi nyanyi tak? Perasan tak dia ada sebut recite suratul-kahfi? Surah al-kahfi biasanya dibaca pada setiap hari Jumaat. Panjang? Yes, memang panjang. Strategi untuk habiskan? Baca 22 ayat setiap kali selepas solat fardu. Ada 5 solat fardu yang wajib dikerjakan, so, 5 darab 22 sama dengan 110 ayat. So, lengkaplah satu surah penuh untuk satu hari. Hendak seribu daya, tak nak seribu dalih. If you can finish 10 episodes of korean drama which last about 10 hours per day, I think to complete 110 ayat in one day is just like a peanut matter and surely can be accomplished, right? I'm reminding myself too not to forget about this though. 

Try to say it loud, is not kahf sounding similar to cave? After finishing surah Yusuf, we are now proceeding for surah al-Kahf which means The Cave. 

The Prophet Muhammad pbuh was once asked by the locals about three questions which were originally given by the Jews. The Jews gave such questions to The Prophet pbuh as they thought he might not be able to answer those. The Prophet prayed to Allah and Allah gave the answers through this surah.  

This surah contains 3 stories: 
  1. The story of the people of the Kahf
  2. The story of Musa AS
  3. The story of Ruth

which covers 4 different aspects i.e spiritual, intellectual, social and wealth. By reading this surah, insyaAllah we're protected from the slander of Dajjal laknatullah. and, now you are going to start questioning. By how, what aspect this can be done? What is fitnah dajjal by the way? There is one analogy called materialism. Dajjal laknatullah separates spiritual and those three earth-prone aspects i.e. intellectual, social, and wealth. If you are not balancing those 4 aspects in yourself, you may have been badly influenced by this. By saying that, we have to put Allah as number one in your heart, and the rest will follow accordingly insyaAllah... I may not be the perfect person to convey this but as The Prophet Muhammad SAW, tell a knowledge from me though it is only an ayat, I'll try my best to write what I learn from the happy circle. 

The first story of this surah is about the cave itself. Allah starts the story from the 9th ayat of the surah. At long time ago, at the very far far away land, (oh, it's becoming fairy-tale like story) there was a community which had not believed in Allah. We are not told in which years they are living but what matters the most is about the value of the story. However, it has surely happened before the official arising of Islam as this surah is conveyed to The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him during his hard time to get the locals trust of being His Messenger. At that time, it does not matter what sort of name of religion it is called. As long as you believe in the existence of Allah, and have faith in Him, insyaAllah you will be always under His guidance. In order to protect their faith, there was a group of men brought themselves away from the community. They intended to change the perspective of the people and tried to work out an act. They took rest in a cave and fell asleep. With Allah's greatness, they woke up only after 309 years yet they thought they just slept for a day. They felt hungry and one of them went to the nearest town to get food. Obviously the community itself, after 309 years was curious about the man who showed up from nowhere and gave an old coin to purchase food. He was brought to meet the king. Alhamdulillah the community by then had stronger belief in Allah and the king believed him. 
And thus did We make (men) to get knowledge of them that they might know that Allah's promise is true and that as for the hour there is no doubt about it. When they disputed among themselves about their affair and said: Erect and edifice over them -- thier Lord best knows them. Those who prevailed in their affair said: We will certainly raise a masjid over them [21:18]
Now, they believe that the promise of Allah to wake people after the death is true and there is no doubt to the Hereafter. Allah is The Greatest and All Knowing. 

This is a story to show how do we believe in Allah. Is it by heart or just following the ancestor? To be fair, you may have come to a point that whenever you are being questioned by not-yet-muslim friends about a few matter regarding Islam's obligation, you just cannot give a satisfied answer to them. Yet, a simple good answer is truly I'm obliged and abide to do so by Allah. Why does Allah put this story at the beginning of the surah? That is to worship Allah and acknowledge The Messenger.
Truth is not related to anything but sound faith. It does not matter how much you have or how powerful you are. If you’re powerful, but you don’t have a relationship with Allah (swt), you are weak. And if you’re seen as weak by the people but you have a strong relationship with Allah (swt), this is powerful. Click here
The people of the kahf tried to seek help from Allah regarding the faith conflict they had.  They struggled toward Allah and isolated themselves. We ought to know that they made a great sacrifice towards reinstating the true belief in Allah. Having great pressures from the peers, they decided to leave friends and family, going against the grain, they entrust Allah to protect them and by then they went stronger. 

As mentioned before, the surah carries the goal of faith. Allah prevails His Greatness by waking the people of Kahf after hundred years of sleeping. Logically, who can ever bring a 'dead' person alive after great long years? Like seriously? To what extent can a human brain think of that logic, it is indeed true that only Allah is The Greatest and     The Most Powerful.  Furthermore, aren't you curious on how many exactly are they, the people of the cave? Such question is left blank and none of us should be bothered to this endless question as only Allah knows the answer, and it again shows the greatness of Allah. 

To talk about faith is not an easy topic. Deep understanding and knowledge is required to do so. So, for this,  I shall leave it to the pro.

Monday 4 February 2013

Yusuf yang sabar

Ketika menunggu waktu untuk bergerak ke dewan peperiksaan, *kononnya sudah membuat persediaan rapi untuk subjek tersebut*, aku pasangkan surah yang beserta tafsir ini di laman media Youtube. Tujuanku hanya untuk mendengar, tetapi apabila terbaca tafsir tersebut, mataku hanya tertumpu di skrin komputer ribaku dan meletakkan kertas ulangkaji di tepiku. Surah ini diturunkan dengan gaya yang mudah difahami *tepat pada zat Al-Quran yang memahami dan memahamkan* iaitu seperti sebuah penceritaan yang santai. Menurut riwayat Al Baihaqi dalam kitab Ad Dalail bahawa segolongan orang Yahudi masuk agama Islam sesudah mereka mendengar cerita Yusuf AS ini kerana sesuai dengan cerita-cerita yang mereka ketahui. Aku pernah menulis entri tentang bagaimana kosa kata membentuk pengetahuan seseorang. Yet, for this one, I could still understand much from the tafseer I read. Alhamdulillah Allah gave me the knowledge to support my learning at that time.

From the starting of 1st academic term of 2012/2013 year, Happy Circle Newcastle mula mengupas kandungan surah Yusuf. Surah Yusuf merupakan surah ke-12 dalam susunan surah Al Quran resam uthmani yang terdiri daripada 111 ayat yang berkisarkan tentang riwayat hidup Nabi Yusuf AS dan pengajaran/iktibar dari kisah tersebut merangkumi tema kekeluargaan dan kesabaran. Surah ini diturunkan di Mekah sebelum hijrah kepada Nabi Muhammad SAW yang ketika itu sedang bersedih di atas kewafatan isterinya, Siti Khadijah. Tidak cukup dengan itu, kaum baginda Rasulullah SAW tidak mahu beriman sebagaimana baginda menginginkannya. Justeru, Allah memujuk dan membantu baginda seraya berkata:
Kami menceritakan kepadamu kisah yang paling baik dengan mewahyukan Al-Quran ini kepadamu, dan sesungguhnya kamu sebelum (Kami mewahyukan)nya adala termasuk orang-orang belum mengetahui [3:12]

Sinopsis:
Allah menguji Nabi Ya'qub AS dengan kehilangan puteranya Yusuf AS dan penglihatannya, dan menguji ketabahan dan kesabaran Yusuf AS dengan dipisahkan dari ibu bapanya, dibuang ke dalam perigi, dan diperdagangkan ketika umurnya masih kecil. Kemudian, Allah menguji imannya dengan godaan wanita cantik lagi bangsawan dan akhirnya dimasukkan ke dalam penjara. Kemudian Allah melepaskan Yusuf AS dan ayahnya dari segala penderitaan dan cubaau itu; menghimpunkan mereka kembali; mengembalikan penglihatan Ya'qub AS dan menghidupkan lagi cinta kasih antara mereka dengan Yusuf AS.


Surah Yusuf ini dimulakan dengan mimpi Yusuf AS itu sendiri.
(Ingatlah), ketika Yusuf berkata kepada ayahnya: "Wahai ayahku, sesungguhnya aku bermimpi melihat sebelas buah bintang, matahari dan bulan; ku lihat semuanya sujud kepadaku"[4:12]
Bapa Yusuf AS ialah Nabi Ya'qub putera kepada Nabi Ishak AS dan cucu kepada Nabi Ibrahim AS. Ya'qub melarang Yusuf AS daripada menceritakan mimpi tersebut kepada saudara-maranya kerana khuatirkan keselamatan Yusuf AS sendiri.

Disebabkan cintanya Ya'qub kepada anak kepada isteri keduanya, Yusuf dan Bunyamin, anak-anaknya dengan isteri pertama berasa iri hati dan had a plot to remove Yusuf from the family.
Seorang di antara mereka berkata: "Janganlah kamu membunuh Yusuf, tetapi masukkanlah dia ke dalam perigi supaya dia dipungut oleh beberapa musafir, sekiranya kamu tetap hendak menjalankan rancangan kamu itu"[10:12]
Saudara-saudara tiri Yusuf pulang dan membawa perkhabaran sedih itu kepada Ya'qub sambil memberi baju Yusuf yang berlumuran darah, kononnya di makan dek serigala ketika asyik bermain-main. Walaupun sedemikian, Ya'qub redha dan tetap menunggu kepulangan anaknya itu saban hari sehingga matanya putih i.e. buta.

Yusuf di ambil dari perigi oleh sekelompok musafir dan dijual kepada Al-Aziz di Mesir. Kita dapat lihat bagaimana sejak dahulu lagi, Allah telah mengajar manusia untuk memungut anak temuan dan tidak membiarkannya begitu sahaja. Jika kita lihat peristiwa ini dalam konteks moden, seharusnya kerajaan sesebuah negara menyokong kebajikan untuk memelihara anak pungut yang saban hari meningkat jumlahnya dek masalah dan kes pembuangan bayi. 

Yusuf dibesarkan dengan baik oleh keluarga tersebut sehinggala dewasa. Yusuf mempunyai raut wajah yang sangat kacak, dan Zulaikha, yakni isteri kepada Al-Aziz tergoda dengan kekacakan baginda Yusuf. Lalu, digodanya Yusuf walaupun Yusuf menolak kerana takutkan Allah. Wanita tersebut menarik baju gamis Yusuf dari belakang sehingga koyak. Zulaikha menuduh Yusuf ingin menggodanya apabila kejadian tersebut sampai ke pengetahuan suaminya Al-Aziz.
Dan jika baju gamisnya koyak di belakang. maka wanita itulah yang dusta, dan Yusuf termasuk orang-orang yang benar [27:12]
Yusuf dipenjarakan untuk menutup aib Zulaikha walhal Al-Aziz mengetahui kebenarannya. Namun, itu adalah sebaik-baiknya demi merahsiakan peristiwa tersebut. Jatuh hukum harus untuk merahsiakan sesuatu untuk menghindari fitnah. Zulaikha kemudiannya dicerca oleh wanita-wanita di kota. Lalu, dia menjemput wanita-wanita tersebut ke sebuah jamuan dan diberikan pisau setiap seorang untuk mempertahankan kebenaran mengapa dia boleh tergoda dengan anak bujangnya sendiri. Terluka jari mereka tatkala melihat keelokan wajah Yusuf, seraya berkata:
Maha sempurna Allah, ini bukanlah manusia. Sesungguhnya ini tidak lain hanyalah malaikat yang mulia [31:12]
Ketika Yusuf di penjara, baginda berdakwah kepada dua pemuda sebelum mentafsirkan mimpi mereka. Salah seorang dari mereka akan memberikan minuman kepada tuannya dan Yusuf berpesan supaya dia menceritakan tentang keadaannya kepada tuan tersebut. Namun, syaitan telah membuatkan pemuda tersebut lupa dan Yusuf meneruskan kehidupannya di penjara dengan lamanya sampailah baginda mentafsir tentang mimpi raja. Yusuf dibebaskan selepas ternyata kebenaran tentang peristiwa aib di antara baginda dan Zulaikha. 

Yusuf diangkat menjadi pengurus pembendaharan hasil negara dan baginda menjalankan tugasnya dengan cemerlang sehingga Mesir yang ketika itu kemarau selama 7 tahun tidak langsung terjejas dek banyaknya sumber makanan yang disimpan oleh Yusuf ketika 7 tahun Mesir subur sebelum datangnya musim kemarau itu. Negara Mesir mampu untuk membantu negara-negara sekelilingnya yang terjejas akibat kemarau. Saudara-saudara tirinya berdagang dari Palestin ke Mesir untuk menjalankan sistem barter i.e. pertukaran barang. Apabila dilihat oleh Yusuf akan kehadiran abang-abangnya yang tidak mengenalinya, Yusuf berkata,
Bawalah kepadaku saudaramu yang seayah dengan kamu (Bunyamin), tidakkah kamu melihat bahawa aku menyempurnakan sukata dan aku adalah sebaik-baik penerima tetamu? [59:12]
Saudara-saudaranya itu perlu memujuk Ya'qub supaya mengizinkan Bunyamin untuk pergi bersama dengan mereka ke Mesir setelah Ya'qub hilang kepercayaan kepada mereka selepas pemergian Yusuf suatu masa dahulu. Mereka berjanji akan pulang bersama-sama Bunyamin selepas mendapatkan bahagian sukatan Bunyamin. Namun, Yusuf telah mengadakan satu plot untuk menetapkan Bunyamin bersama dengannya iaitu dengan menampakkan Bunyamin sebagai seorang pencuri. Dengan itu, pencuri tersebut akan dijadikan sebagai hamba tebusan apabila disabit kesalahan. Namun, adalah wajib bagi kita sebagai seorang yang rasional untuk mengambil secara teliti akan pengajaran tindakan Yusuf ini. Dalam konteks ini, kita dibolehkan untuk melakukan helah yang tidak merugikan orang lain untuk memperoleh sesuatu kemaslahatan. Walaubagaimanpun, Islam tetap melarang sebarang bentuk penipuan yang memberi kerugian kepada pihak lain. Bak kata pepatah Melayu,
Siakap senohong, gelama ikan duri; bercakap bohong lama-lama mencuri
Jika kita sudah biasa berbohong, tendency for that bad habit to influence us to do another bad habit is high. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden for us to tell a lie.

Mereka yang lain pulang dengan rasa gelisah kerana telah mengingkari janjinya kepada Ya'qub. Setelah Ya'qub mendengar berita tersebut, baginda berkata,
Aku akan memohonkan keampunan bagimu kepada tuhanku. Sesungguhnya Dia-lah Yang Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Penyayang [98:12]
Dengan itu, berjayalah rancangan Yusuf untuk bertemu dengan ahli keluarganya setelah sekian lama terpisah. Ya'qub dan Bunyamin telah dipertemukan Allah dengan Yusuf di kediaman Yusuf. Disebabkan Ya'qub buta dan tidak dapat melihat Yusuf, Yusuf memberikan bajunya kepada Ya'qub lalu diletakkanya di atas muka. Dengan kuasa Allah, penglihatan Ya'qub pulih seperti sedia kala. Here, we could see the use of garment in various ways dijelaskan dalam surah ini.
  1. Baju Yusuf berlumuran darah dibaham serigala
  2. Baju Yusuf ditarik ketika digoda Zulaikha
  3. Baju Yusuf sebagai tanda pengenalan kepada ayahnya, Ya'qub

Yusuf menceritakan kepada ayahnya akan perjalanan hidupnya tetapi baginda tetap menutup aib abang-abangnya demi menjaga perasaan Ya'qub. Abang-abangnya semua bertaubat dan sujud hormat kepadanya dan benarlah mimpi Yusuf di mana sebelas bintang (abang-abang dan adik), matahari (Ya'qub) dan bulan (saudara perempuan ibunya) akan tunduk kepadanya. Yusuf AS pon berdoa,
Ya Tuhanku, sesungguhnya Engkau telah menganugerahkan kepadaku sebahagian kerajaan dan telah mengajarkan kepadaku sebahagian takwil mimpi. (Ya Tuhan), Pencipta langit dan bumi. Engkaulah Pelindungku di dunia dan di akhirat, wafatkanlah aku dalam keadaan Islam dan gabungkanlah aku dengan orang-orang yang soleh [101:12]
Sekianlah cerita Yusuf yang disampaikan di dalam Al-Quran. Cerita ini diwahyukan kepada Nabi Muhammad SAW selepas beratus tahun kewafatan Yusuf. Tiada manusia yang hidup ketika zaman Nabi Muhammad yang tahu akan segala butiran peristiwa termasuklah plot untuk membunuh Yusuf, melainkan Allah. Surah ini diturunkan sebagai salah satu cara untuk menunjukkan kerasulan dan tugas Nabi Muhammad dalam menyampaikan dakwah dan agama yang sebenar. 
Katakanlah: "Inilah jalan (agama)ku, aku dan orang-orang yang mengikutiku mengajak (kamu) kepada Allah dengan hujah yang nyata, Maha Suci Allah, dan aku tiada termasuk orang-orang yang musyrik" [108:12]
Ternyata Allah Maha Besar dan Maha Mengetahui. 
Sesungguhnya pada kisah-kisah mereka itu terdapat pengajaran bagi orang-orang yang mempunyai akal. Al-Quran itu bukanlah cerita yang dibuat-buat, akan tetapi membenarkan (kitab-kitab) yang sebelumnya dan menjelaskan segala sesuatu, dan sebagai petunjuk dan rahmat bagi kaum yang beriman [111:12]
Perbezaan antara kisah Nabi Yusuf dan nabi-nabi yang lain ialah kisah Nabi Yusuf dikhususkan dalam sebuah surah manakala kisah nabi-nabi yang lain diceritakan dalam beberapa surah yang berlainan. Dalam kisah nabi-nabi yang lain, Allah menitik beratkan kepada pelbagai tentangan dari kaum mereka, kemudian mengakhiri kisah itu dengan kemusnahan para penentang para nabi itu. Berlainan dengan Nabi Yusuf, Allah SWT menonjolkan akibat yang baik daripada kesabaran, dan bahawa kesenangan itu datangnya sesudah penderitaan. 

Bersabar adalah kunci utama kepada sebuah kejayaan. Jika kita bersabar, sudah pasti Allah akan membantu kita untuk memperoleh hasil kejayaan yang baik. 

Tafsir penuh surah ini boleh dibaca di TheNobleQuran/surah12.



Saturday 2 February 2013

Laksa Perak

Wahh I only wrote a few entries in January? Well, maybe it was exam fever that avoiding me to do so. I've merely nothing to share at the moment, but I feel like writing something. Hence, lets talk about my LAKSA project.

It has been a while I crave for laksa. What is laksa by the way? Laksa is one of the best traditional malay cuisine which is more popular in Penang. It seems to have quite a variety of laksa in Malaysia. Laksa made in  Johor, Sarawak, Terengganu, and Kedah may differ to each other in term of taste, ingredients and serving. For example, laksa Johor is served with spaghetti instead of the usual white rice noodle. This is because of diffusion of western and eastern food style. When British once invaded Tanah Melayu, Johor's culture has also been influenced by British's culture. The royal sultan who had British woman as his wife was served laksa with spaghetti. And that has influenced the local citizen to eat laksa that way. As for Penang and Kesah, they may share same laksa paste in their own recipes, but what differ both of them is the use of pineapple as topping. I'm not quite sure about the rest as I don't think I've eaten them. My mom only uses to prepare laksa penang, so, the recipe I'll be writing next is more like laksa johor or laksa penang.

Supposedly I  cooked laksa penang. I even wrote down my mom's recipe. So, I had been searching for white rice noodle at Brighton Halal Store and there was no stock left. Noting that, I changed my mind. If I still want to eat laksa, I need  to eat the soup with spaghetti. Hurm.... That means, I have to make laksa johor instead. I searched on google about how to make an easy laksa johor. It turns out that it's not an easy dish to make. Plus, there was no galangal and fresh prawns in the refrigerator and I was lazy to go out and buy it at the store.



Though it is lacking of must-have ingredients, I just follow what my mother has told. I blended dried chilies, spring onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger and lemon grass. Turned on the hob, and put together the paste and a litre of boiling water into the pot. Meanwhile, I blended the dried shrimps and tuna chunks and put into the pot after. I let them boil before adding ginger flower, laksa leaves and tamarind peel to extract the smell. It is as simple as that. To simmer the spaghetti, add a tablespoon of oil so that they are not sticking to each other.
My laksa was served with cucumber and lettuce slices. Though it is my first time preparing laksa, I think its appearance and taste is not too bad. Edible still.